Boehner: No, the House isn’t going to arrest Lois Lerner for being in contempt

posted at 6:41 pm on May 12, 2014 by Allahpundit

A leftover from yesterday via the Corner in case you missed it. I understand his reluctance: Having Congress send its own “police,” a.k.a. the sergeant-at-arms, to arrest a citizen is bad optics notwithstanding the merits of the contempt charge. It risks turning Lerner, the shadiest actor in the IRS scandal, into a media martyr “persecuted” by Republicans. Is it too much to ask, though, that Boehner relay the history of this power correctly in declining to use it? Contra what he says, the House has arrested people before, more than once. And it’s all perfectly legal.

Congress’ “inherent contempt” power hasn’t been used since 1935, but it has been upheld twice by the Supreme Court, in 1821 and 1927, according to O’Donnell’s article.

The House first pursued inherent contempt proceedings in 1795 against two men accused of offering bribes to lawmakers, and more than a dozen inherent contempt cases were tried in Congress over the course of the next six decades.

According to O’Donnell:

“The people rounded up by the sergeant-at-arms ranged from would-be bribers to an attorney general’s brother who was imprisoned in 1927 for refusing to comply with a subpoena in a Senate investigation of the lack of prosecution of allegations of antitrust violations. The offending witness is supposed to be locked up in the Capitol, but Congress also has turned them over to the city jail.”

He’s going to let Holder enforce the contempt charge, which is politically win/win for the GOP. If the DOJ prosecutes her, great! The chances of that happening are a hair north of zero but it’d be nice to have bipartisan unity against Lerner. If Holder doesn’t prosecute her, great! The GOP gets to show the public that the administration’s protecting one of its own in defiance of the law. And before you say that the flaw in that scenario is that Lerner won’t do time, read Jazz’s post from yesterday. Lerner’s probably not going to do time anyway.

The GOP gets to show the public that the administration’s protecting one of its own in defiance of the law. And before you say that the flaw in that scenario is that Lerner won’t do time, read Jazz’s post from yesterday. Lerner’s probably not going to do time anyway.

Arrest her and appoint an independent prosecutor. There’s enough on her to convict. If she does jail time, great! If she gets Obama to give her a pardon, the administration will have revealed how corrupt it is, so great!

Mr. Speaker, you know good and well that AG Holder isn’t going to do anything about continued intransigence from Lerner & Co. Pushing your responsibility onto his office is weak and vacillating. Why on earth should anyone from the Obama Administration respond to you if you are just going to weasel your way out of taking a stand on or for anything.

Just as I expected, naming the committee was just another ‘feel good’ exercise from the so-called House Leadership. (Sigh)

I don’t understand why Boehner is ruling out arrest and imprisonment. It’s as idiotic as Obama taking foreign policy options off the table before negotiations even begin. Both surrender leverage for no apparent useful purpose.

Boehner should have said, we’re not considering it now. We will wait to see what Eric Holder does, and we won’t wait forever for him to do it.That leverages his power, instead of neutering it.

Holder drags his feet, give him a deadline. He fails to meet it, or refuses to prosecute without a solid legal argument, take it back to the House and see if there is support for tossing her in jail.

I’d let her sit for at least 30 days before I considered immunity. And immunity would entail explicit details of what her testimony would be in advance. If she’s going to lie, no deal.

One thing I have not seen discussed is Lerner’s vulnerability to civil suits. If she acted with knowledge of illegality and malice, any official immunity she has as a government employee will not apply. At some point in the future, I think she will wind up in federal court, just not necessarily on the criminal side.

He’s going to let Holder enforce the contempt charge, which is politically win/win for the GOP.

Aaargh, can we once — just once — not analyze something in political terms? I realize this is a political blog, but c’mon. Can’t we ever, just for once, analyze it in terms of what is the right thing to do, what is going to serve justice, what is in the best interests of the American people, instead of what is politically smart for the GOP?

To hell with what is politically smart for the GOP.

This woman is a criminal, she has persecuted people of opposing viewpoints through the enormous power of the IRS, she has thumbed her nose at the branch of government charged with oversight of the IRS, and so far she has done all of this with impunity, believing she is untouchable.

It’s time for Congress to haul her off in handcuffs, political calculations be damned!

All these ‘select-committees’ and ‘contempts’ are nothing but clown shows.
They are only for entertainment.
After the Benghazi ‘investigations’ they will have one big press conference and blame everything on Hillary.

Boehner: No, the House isn’t going to arrest Lois Lerner for being in contempt

Boehner isn’t about to upset his congressional frat brothers over a little thing like the Democrats using the power of government to illegally deny citizens electoral freedom in spending, especially if the attacked are the Democrats and Republicans mutual enemy, the TEA Party folks.

The problem with ruling out the possibility of Congressional jail is, that may be the only jail time she can be threatened with.

Obama could easily buy her silence by promising not to prosecute her, and/or by promising her a pardon if she has legal trouble because of the contempt of Congress charge. And a presidential pardon would be pretty much absolute.

Except if she’s in the Congressional jail, which may be the only place where the president’s pardon power can’t reach.

I don’t see how you make any credible threat to her if she’s been offered a get-out-of-jail-free card by the president, EXCEPT by putting her in Congressonal jail.

All these ‘select-committees’ and ‘contempts’ are nothing but clown shows.
They are only for entertainment.
After the Benghazi ‘investigations’ they will have one big press conference and blame everything on Hillary.

All you need to know about the bought-and-paid-for Boehner (excerpted from Breitbart):

House Speaker John Boehner signaled support for former Florida Governor Jeb Bush to run for president during a press conference on Monday.

“Jeb Bush is my friend,” Boehner said. “I think he’d make a great president. And I’ve been nudging him for some time.”

Boehner made his remarks during a Q&A session with Texas Tribune at the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. Boehner also asserted that a majority of Republicans were interested in immigration reform, even though some were blocking the issue.

“There are some members of my party that just do not want to deal with this,” Boehner said. “It’s no secret. But I do believe the vast majority of members of our party do want to deal with this.”

OF COURSE Lois Lerner is going to go to jail. It’s right there in Article, 5, section 3, paragraph 2 of the United Socialist States of Amerika Constitution … only Republicans go to jail for using the IRS for political purposes; purveying intimidation and retribution on Enemies of the Demorat Party!

That pretty much is the whole problem with the GOP leadership. They never actually have a goal of achieving our stated objectives ever. Instead they only want to politick the dems into bad light while maybe at best holding the line on some issues before they tactically retreat AGAIN.

The conservatives and the BASE want action they want to fight they want to GAIN ground not make meaningless politick shows. We cannot get anyone higher then throw the bia in jail. I got money that once this yuppie stuck up hit intake she would start squealing. Even if she didn’t all the underling at the IRS would understand that if they continued her path they would end up in the same, and so WOULDN’T.

The goal is to stop the IRS interference based on political reasons. MAKE SOMEONE PAY The GOP needs HEADS.